Nakao, 40, was last seen in January 2010, when he snapped a
two-fight losing skid with a unanimous decision win against
Yuki
Ito at “45
Impact.” A 15-year veteran of MMA competition, Nakao was
crowned Deep’s inaugural welterweight champion in 2006 and holds
notable wins over the likes of Shinya Aoki,
Pat
Miletich and Daisuke
Nakamura.

Recently returned from a training stint at San Diego’s
Alliance MMA, Kitaoka will look to extend his current win
streak to three. The 31-year-old submission specialist returned
from the first back-to-back losses of his career in June 2010 and
has since defeated Nova
Uniao standout Jorge
Rodrigues and Cage
Force lightweight ace Kuniyoshi
Hironaka.

Set to take place at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, “53 Impact” will
feature a main event pitting Kazuo Misaki
against retiring
Pride favorite Akira Shoji in
a rematch of a 2006 bout which Misaki won via first-round
submission. Eiji
Mitsuoka will also participate, as the lightweight Sengoku vet
returns from a 17-month layoff to face South Korean Jung Gyung Lee.